Mazda Moly 0w-20 6.2k mi; 2016 Mazda CX-5 2.5L n/a 81k mi

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Dec 17, 2024
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Here is a link to my first post last year when I noticed increased Iron and Aluminum for the first time since starting to get UOAs on our 2016 Mazda CX-5 with the 2.5L naturally aspirated Skyactiv motor: https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/t...2k-mi-2016-mazda-cx-5-2-5l-n-a-77k-mi.390472/

The car always showed really low wear metals until the previous UOA. I decided to stick with the same OEM Mazda Moly 0w-20 and OEM filter (this time moved from the one made in Thailand to the Tokyo Roki version made in Japan, but otherwise same combo) to see if it was an anomaly and again, the wear metals came back high, Aluminum even higher than before! Since I was worried, in addition to the BlackStone reports I've been getting for years, I also sent another sample into WearCheck (both are posted below). Can anyone smarter than me weigh in on these reports and let me know what yah think? For reference, and maybe I'm grabbing at straws here, the last two oil changes with the elevated wear metals were from the same case of Mazda Moly oil I bought from a Mazda dealer on Amazon that I sat on for a good three years or more (not that age has anything to do with it, but could it be a "bad" batch?)...like I mentioned, maybe I'm grabbing at straws.

For reference, this change (before seeing these) I went ahead and moved over to HPL Premium Passenger Car Oil in a 0w-20 vintage with another OEM Tokyo Roki filter. Hopefully that one trends back to the original baseline(s) as far as wear metals.

Thanks!

16 CX5 UUOA 08-04-25 Edited.webp

2016 Mazda CX-5 Wear Check UOA Edited_Page_1.webp

2016 Mazda CX-5 Wear Check UOA Edited_Page_2.webp
 
Here is a link to my first post last year when I noticed increased Iron and Aluminum for the first time since starting to get UOAs on our 2016 Mazda CX-5 with the 2.5L naturally aspirated Skyactiv motor: https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/t...2k-mi-2016-mazda-cx-5-2-5l-n-a-77k-mi.390472/

The car always showed really low wear metals until the previous UOA. I decided to stick with the same OEM Mazda Moly 0w-20 and OEM filter (this time moved from the one made in Thailand to the Tokyo Roki version made in Japan, but otherwise same combo) to see if it was an anomaly and again, the wear metals came back high, Aluminum even higher than before! Since I was worried, in addition to the BlackStone reports I've been getting for years, I also sent another sample into WearCheck (both are posted below). Can anyone smarter than me weigh in on these reports and let me know what yah think? For reference, and maybe I'm grabbing at straws here, the last two oil changes with the elevated wear metals were from the same case of Mazda Moly oil I bought from a Mazda dealer on Amazon that I sat on for a good three years or more (not that age has anything to do with it, but could it be a "bad" batch?)...like I mentioned, maybe I'm grabbing at straws.

For reference, this change (before seeing these) I went ahead and moved over to HPL Premium Passenger Car Oil in a 0w-20 vintage with another OEM Tokyo Roki filter. Hopefully that one trends back to the original baseline(s) as far as wear metals.

Thanks!

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Fluke, man. The increase means nothing at this low amount. Some aluminum is present in fresh oil. Maybe there's a little more aluminum in this oil batch.
 
Thanks, All for the info. Didn't occur to me to do a VOA 🤦‍♂️, but maybe that would have given me more info. For now, I'll heed your advice and carry on, now with HPL and OEM Japan-source filter. I'll report out the results after my next OCI.

Thanks again!
 
Any difference in driving style or highway/city split?
Identical driving habits to the last OCI. Here's some info:

Maintenance, Care and & Typical Driving Conditions: We live about 30 miles outside San Francisco. I’m beyond picky with the car, religiously running OEM filters and the 0W-20 Mazda Moly oil with OCIs of 5000 miles or once-a-year. It’s my wife’s vehicle and she drives about 8 miles back and forth to work, 80% highway on her commute. Typical Commute Conditions: She goes about 2 miles down a country road before climbing up a steep on-ramp onto the freeway, at which point it’s pretty much down-hill-to-mostly flat all the way to work. On the way home, city streets for roughly 4 miles, then climbing up a ramp to the freeway and mostly flat all the way home.

Outside of her commute, it sees at least as much city and in town driving as her short highway commute and once a week it gets a 60-70 mile round trip mostly on the freeway.

I’ve asked my wife to drive it easy while it’s cold, unless she needs to accelerate to stay safe, otherwise she’s a brisk driver but not one to hammer the gas all the time. I drive it even slower than her, but at least once a month, after our long highway stint I will roll into it some or to the floor, mostly just for fun.

Observations Before this recent UOA: In addition to being beyond picky, I have a nose and ears for cars and any little thing that sounds (sometimes smells) different tingles my Spidey-Senses. That said, a few times just after start up over the past 3-4 months, if I’m standing behind the Mazda when it fires-up, I swear I get a slight smell of burnt oil before the expected rich cold-start smell. I don’t see any blue smoke, it doesn’t seem to be using any oil (but I’ve started keeping an even closer eye on the oil level now).

Additionally, and again, with super sensitive hearing I just could be making a mountain out of a mole hill, when the engine is cold, just after start up it sounds like either that faint hollow sound whir of piston slap (noticed it about a year ago) or what could be just the start of a bearing in something going, like the faint whir of the AC compressor pulley aging, power steering, alternator etc.

Oil Filter Caveat: There are four UOAs from Black Stone on the car. All are using the Mazda 0w-20 Moly Oil but the first two changes are with the Mazda value line OEM filter made in Mexico, the latest is with the OEM Mazda oil filter made in Thailand. *For reference, the current fill (about 2000 miles into this OCI) I’m using the same oil, but switched to the OEM Mazda Tokyo filter from Japan that I’m told is what they use from the factory.
 
OP: Is it normal to see so much sulphur? I don’t recall ever seeing that in a UOA. It must be an AW compound, but so much? Have you been buying the same gasoline over these reports?
 
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